There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.63 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Leandro Quiroz was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad19 Oct 2037
Words at Godoy Cruz training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Facundo Altamira is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Godoy Cruz this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
In brief
Player ratingsThiago Yfran could not find anything
Player ratingsAn afternoon Piero Covinos will want back
A season average of 7.07 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Godoy Cruz know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Godoy Cruz this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Godoy Cruz, another week without a signature from Thiago Moreira.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Godoy Cruz may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Player ratings18 May 2037
Jefe, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 7.63
A mark of 7.63 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Leandro Quiroz was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Defensive actions: 24, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad18 May 2037
Words at Godoy Cruz training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Facundo Altamira is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Hugo is 39 and has run out of things to prove. What he has left is where to stand, when to slow it down and what to say at half-time, and none of that is on a fitness chart.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Godoy Cruz scored in the 92th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.66 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Player ratings27 Apr 2037
Jefe, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 7.77
A mark of 7.77 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 27 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
He is 19, he is averaging 7.02, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Godoy Cruz this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
A 3‑2 win over Defensa y Justicia, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Jefe did not need any: 8.55, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Leandro Quiroz was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad9 Mar 2037
Words at Godoy Cruz training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Facundo Altamira is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Jefe has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Godoy Cruz know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 34 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Godoy Cruz this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Sergio Peralta is living that version at Godoy Cruz, and it tends to show in the first month.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Godoy Cruz they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Leandro Quiroz was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad24 Nov 2036
Words at Godoy Cruz training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Facundo Altamira is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Godoy Cruz this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The words a physio says slowly. 25 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Leandro Quiroz was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad7 Jul 2036
Words at Godoy Cruz training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Facundo Altamira is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Godoy Cruz, and 0 appearances in 29 say he has earned the hearing.
None of them will be seen by anybody outside the training ground for three years, most of them will never play a senior match, and one of them might change the club. That is the whole proposition, and it is why academies exist.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Godoy Cruz this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 22 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Godoy Cruz, and 0 appearances in 21 say he has earned the hearing.
Leandro Quiroz was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad5 May 2036
Words at Godoy Cruz training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Facundo Altamira is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Marked 8.81 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
The board have answered with money instead of encouragement, which is the only answer a manager ever wants. Spending it well is now entirely his problem.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Facundo Altamira signs something — a contract at Godoy Cruz or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Godoy Cruz will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Godoy Cruz this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Godoy Cruz will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Leandro Quiroz was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad7 Apr 2036
Words at Godoy Cruz training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Facundo Altamira is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Jorge Ibáñez is living that version at Godoy Cruz, and it tends to show in the first month.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Facundo Altamira signs something — a contract at Godoy Cruz or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Estudiantes defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Godoy Cruz will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.61 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Godoy Cruz this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
A performance of 9.71 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings31 Mar 2036
Luciano Pascual was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.85. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
It finished 2‑0, and it was Luciano Pascual’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Godoy Cruz.
Squad31 Mar 2036
The manager has not finished forgetting Vicente Poggi's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Godoy Cruz will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Leandro Quiroz was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad24 Mar 2036
Words at Godoy Cruz training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Facundo Altamira is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Vicente Poggi signs something — a contract at Godoy Cruz or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 49 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
29 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.08 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Godoy Cruz this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Marked 9.43 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Natan Navarro. 1‑0 against Unión de Santa Fe, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Godoy Cruz will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.97 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Leandro Quiroz was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad10 Mar 2036
Words at Godoy Cruz training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Facundo Altamira is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Facundo Altamira signs something — a contract at Godoy Cruz or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Godoy Cruz will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
287 appearances across 11 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Godoy Cruz this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Godoy Cruz will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
There were 88 minutes on the clock and Barracas Central had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and Godoy Cruz did not stop to explain themselves.
Leandro Quiroz was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad25 Feb 2036
Words at Godoy Cruz training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Facundo Altamira is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Vicente Poggi signs something — a contract at Godoy Cruz or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 79 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Godoy Cruz this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
In brief
SquadA muscle injury sidelines Emanuel Candal for 14 days
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 86 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
9 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Independiente kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Godoy Cruz will be asked about the last half hour all week.
Leandro Quiroz was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad11 Feb 2036
Words at Godoy Cruz training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Facundo Altamira is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Marked 8.77 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 93 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Godoy Cruz this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Boardroom4 Feb 2036
12 academy players handed senior numbers at Godoy Cruz
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Carlos Castro has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Matías Pereyra has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Leandro Quiroz was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad14 Jan 2036
Words at Godoy Cruz training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Facundo Altamira is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Rosario Central will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Alejandro Molina has pre-agreed a move to Godoy Cruz, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
He is 19, and nobody at Godoy Cruz signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.